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Save Australian Great Barrier Reef from polluters

Australia could let mining magnates build an enormous coal port on top of the Great Barrier Reef! But a bank owned by the US public is key to the project and global pressure could cause the bank to pull out. The bank’s chairman is in Australia for meetings right now — click below to bring a global call for reef protection straight to him:

Activists in Australia are pressuring the government and UNESCO is speaking out, but a bank owned by the US public is key to the project. Global pressure on the US bank now could bring international shame and spotlight environmental issues in the middle of the US election season. If they pull out, the entire crazy plan could be shut down for good.

Let’s up the pressure on the bank’s chairman Fred Hochberg and demand he halt funding for Great Barrier Coal. We have only days to act — he’s in Australia for meetings right now. Click below to join the call to save the reef and Avaaz will deliver our voices to Hochberg:

The enormous coal port project would push the already vulnerable reef closer to the brink by constructing an export terminal inside its waters — and by flooding the market with 8 billion more tonnes of coal exports. It would allow up to 20 ships each day to travel over this pristine area, shuttling dirty coal from inland Australia to China. We saw the kind of damage these ships can cause in 2010 when a ship ran aground, leaving a 3km gash in the unique reef.

Right now, the proposal is facing hurdles after UNESCO reported that coal development is damaging the reef, and the Australian government has intervened by calling for a review of the environmental assessment. If we can cut the funding off at its source we can bring another blow to the plan — and help stop the entire mining operation.

The US Export-Import Bank is already embattled within US politics and wants to avoid any further controversy. A massive outcry right now could stop them from destroying the most spectacular underwater scenery in the world.

Millions of Avaaz members across the world have fought for our planet — raising our voices at climate change negotiations in Copenhagen and Rio and securing wins to protect our oceans in Australia and the Amazon in Brazil. Now, let’s come together again to protect the majestic Great Barrier Reef from mining greed.

October 2012. The Great Barrier Reef has lost half its coral cover in the last 27 years. The loss was due to storm damage (48%), crown of thorns starfish (42%), and bleaching (10%) according to a new study published by the Australian Institute of Marine Science (AIMS) in Townsville and the University of Wollongong: here.

Nutrient-rich slurry from farms has been causing coral populations on Australia’s Great Barrier Reef to crash for 90 years: here.

Researchers at the University of Hawaii – Manoa (UHM) School of Ocean and Earth Science and Technology (SOEST) made a discovery that challenges a major theory in the field of coral reef ecology. The general assumption has been that the more flexible corals are, regarding which species of single celled algae (Symbiodinium) they host in coral tissues, the greater ability corals will have to survive environmental stress. In their paper published August 29, 2012, however, scientists at the Hawaii Institute of Marine Biology (HIMB) at SOEST and colleagues documented that the more flexible corals are, the more sensitive to environment disturbances they are: here.

Ocean scientists have long known that juvenile coral reef fishes use coastal seagrass and mangrove habitats as nurseries, later moving as adults onto coral reefs. But the fishes’ movements, and the connections between different tropical habitats, are much more complex than previously realized, according to a study published September 3 in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. The findings have important implications for management and protection of coral reefs and other marine environments: here.

Scientists warned yesterday that rising global temperatures could kill off most of the world’s coastline corals: here.

The world’s richest woman, Gina Rinehart, who was born into a wealthy mining family, is suggesting that Australia should be considering paying workers a $2 a day wage: here.